Eight Republican presidential candidates took the stage in Milwaukee last night for the first 2024 Republican presidential debate. The candidates included the former vice president, a senator, current and former governors, a former U.N. ambassador and an entrepreneur. Former President Donald Trump, who is also running for the Republican nomination, was not on the debate stage.
The debate took place in Milwaukee the week after current Democratic President and 2024 presidential candidate Joe Biden visited the city to speak on the Inflation Reduction Act.
Moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum of Fox News Channel, the candidates were asked to share their platforms on pressing issues including climate change, abortion access, aid to Ukraine, rising rates of crime and homelessness, and national debt.
The moderators cited recent wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, a tropical storm that caused flooding in Southern California and rising ocean temperatures when asking about climate change. The candidates gave mixed responses.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Biden’s response to the wildfires on Maui, and the thirty-eight-year-old millionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy jumped in to call the “climate change agenda” a “hoax”.
“The reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change,” Ramaswamy said.
Former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said climate change is real, but pointed to countries outside of the U.S.
“If you want to go and really change the environment, then we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions,” Haley said.
The candidates’ clashing responses continued when asked to speak on access to abortion. Many of the candidates on stage supported the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade June 2022, which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion. But the candidates disagreed on whether anti-abortion courses of action should be left to individual states or mandated federally.
Haley said a federal ban on abortion is unrealistic, stating Republicans would never have enough votes to pass such legislation in Congress. Former Vice President Mike Pence called supporting abortion a “moral issue,” saying the decision should not be left to individual states. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott echoed Pence, ultimately demonstrating support for a federal ban on abortion.
Though no candidates have released detailed economic plans, all candidates were in favor of extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which is set to expire in 2025, and is most notable for reducing the corporate tax rate.
The candidates were also asked to answer a question on whether their rival, former Vice President Pence, did the “right thing” on Jan. 6, when he turned away pressure from former President Trump to overturn the 2020 election.
Throughout the debate, candidates avoided speaking about former President Trump, who opted for an interview with Tucker Carlson instead of the debate stage.
Despite his absence, multiple polls show Trump is still in the lead for the Republican nomination, followed by DeSantis then Ramaswamy.
The next Republican presidential debate will take place Sept. 27 in Simi Valley, California. The Republican presidential candidate will be announced at the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee from July 15-18, 2024.
